I have used a variety of Carvin gear over the years, and have found them to be well built, well backed and reliable. That amp for $800 looks like a pretty nice deal, unless you have e freight premium to get it delivered in your area.

Others would have to add opinions about the Ampeg (and I'm sure they will . . . ).

Had a Cyclops, (which I sold), and still keep my RL1018 as a back-up to my gig rig.

I found their R heads to be very good values, at least the Series II - very dependable, rugged, and loads of tones because all those controls make them quite flexible. The only downsides I can think of are that their Noise Gates are worthless, their crossovers are weird for bass (high for bass Hz's, IMO), and some people find their DI's too hot to be useable.
I haven't any experience with their new monoblock heads.

Their speakers are another story. While the cabs are very well-constructed, their Eminence speakers, built to Carvin's specs, just cannot handle low end at decent volume/much power.

When I've paired my Carvin head with my Eden cabs instead of the Carvin cabs, the difference was like day and night.

Over the years I've owned a variety of Carvin products and I've found them to be reliable and functional. Carvin bass amps will get the job done. However,I've found them to be a bit over rated in power and a little shy in the bottom end. I prefer the sound and power of Ampeg, if all other things are equal.

This is definetly saying alot about Carvin, however, it's also coming from a Carvin employee. It's definetly possible that these new cabs sound great, but what sucks is that they're only available from Carvin, meaning bass players can't compare them against high end brands. Maybe bassplayer magazine will have a shootout.

I can't say anything specific about the B1500, but if you're not planning on ever loading it with a 2-ohm load (two 4-ohm cabs), then I'd buy an R1000 instead. Nearly the same power at 4 ohms (1000 vs 1250 -- not a big difference), and WAY more tone features and biamp flexibility -- for $150 less!

I own and am thrilled with an R600 Series III. I just didn't need the power of the R1000, and the preamp is the same.

As stated by someone before, its not a lot of power unless you plan on running it at a 2 ohm load, which very, very few people do. At 8 ohms or even 4, its not that much more power than Carvin's R1000 . . .

I always feel sorry for people who run one 8 ohm cab through an amp and say its "xxx watts" just because the amp touts that rating at 2 ohms, when in reality they are only getting around half of that power when using their cab.

Herein lies the conundrum. (I just love saying that!) If something really sucks, and because Carvin ONLY sells by direct order, thereby relying entirely on advertising, thus spending a LOT of money advertising- is Bassplayer, or any other magazine going to give a bad review to a piece of equipment that comes from an advertiser? When was the last time you read a bad review in a magazine? Why would you tell your audience that your advertisers' products sucked? Your own ears or word of mouth from someone you trust. In other words, not Harmony Central.

Herein lies the conundrum. (I just love saying that!) If something really sucks, and because Carvin ONLY sells by direct order, thereby relying entirely on advertising, thus spending a LOT of money advertising- is Bassplayer, or any other magazine going to give a bad review to a piece of equipment that comes from an advertiser? When was the last time you read a bad review in a magazine? Why would you tell your audience that your advertisers' products sucked? Your own ears or word of mouth from someone you trust. In other words, not Harmony Central.

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I knew this would come up...and you're right. So the only fair comparison then, would be for musicians to get together and do a shootout of their own.

I knew this would come up...and you're right. So the only fair comparison then, would be for musicians to get together and do a shootout of their own.

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Pretty much, and even then, since tone is so subjective, you'd have to know that the person has similar likes and similar gear and such to get an "fair and balanced" shootout review. Really, the only fair option is to A/B them yourself.